One Direction. NSYNC. BTS. All of these bands, plus dozens more, are examples of an extremely unique genre of the music industry — boy bands. Dating back over 60 years, the creation and subsequent obsession with boybands has been a phenomenon that has struck music listeners worldwide. And now in the wake of boyband superstar Liam Payne’s sudden passing, passionate One Direction fans have been publicly mourning him and his legacy all over his social media. This includes vigils, Instagram posts, and various tributes. “Considering I grew up with him and I grew up with One Direction, it feels like a lot of my life,” Berkeley High School freshman Sarah Khan-Akselrod said, “Parts of my life revolved around them, and I think that’s the reason his death is so sad.”
The initial popularity of boy bands can be traced back to the 1960s, with The Beatles and the Jackson Five. Boy bands had another spike in popularity in the 1990s and the 2000s, with the likes of NSYNC and the Backstreet boys. One Direction dominated the genre through the 2010’s. The aspect that all of these bands had in common was a certain charisma. Boy bands are often marketed towards adolescents, specifically teenage girls. Therefore, having a group of attractive, charismatic, and charming young boys, who are similar in age to their target audience, helps the audience feel more connected to the performers.
“With The Beatles, people went crazy over them because of how charming they were,” BHS junior Najuna Kiggundu said, “They were heartthrobs, and that really contributed to them skyrocketing to fame.”
Relatability is also marketed towards fans in the target demographic. Boy bands’ music is typically about young love, tricky relationships, or school; all topics which are relatable to young fans. Seeing someone they look up to openly sing about teenage experiences creates a deeper emotional connection with the musicians.
Taking the example of The Beatles, what made them so special at the time was that they came from the working class and almost all of them had faced struggles. With their strong Liverpool accents and goofy personalities, fans really felt like the boys were people they would be friends with, or go to school with.
Boy bands can seem a bit formulaic, as though record labels are just sticking with what has worked for groups in the past. BHS freshman, Minerva Burley said, “(Boy bands) are all styled the same way and they often look relatively the same.” Boy bands’ personas are perfectly curated by the record studios to make as much profit as possible, with the goal of franchising and globalizing the band.
This is noticeable in bands like BTS, an extremely popular modern Korean boy band. Despite having released only six songs in English, BTS still remains very known in the western hemisphere. In the digital era, boy bands have the opportunity to spread their music easily across the world. This creates a global community, one that can connect every type of person to a group of perfect boys. People from all over the world can listen to these artists and form a connection with them. This skyrockets their fan bases and popularity.
Boy band music is often very catchy and easy to listen to. “I was just drawn to (One Direction’s) music because of how catchy it was.” Kiggundu said, “Whenever I would listen to it, it would just be very upbeat.”
The success of boy bands can’t be completely attributed to targeted marketing. The phenomenon is most likely the result of a mix of perfect circumstances, which when they come together, allow boy bands and their members to take the world and it’s teenage population, by storm.